Method and Apparatus for Monitoring Grant Channels in Wireless Communication

1. A user equipment apparatus comprising: at least one processor to determine whether a monitoring condition is satisfied, to monitor at least one grant channel for grants of radio resources if the monitoring condition is satisfied, and to stop monitoring all grant channels if the monitoring condition is not satisfied, wherein the monitoring condition is determined to be satisfied according to an occurrence of one or more criteria, wherein the one or more criteria includes existence of an outstanding grant of radio resources available in a grant channel for an uplink data transmission based on an absolute grant; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor monitors the at least one grant channel if there is at least one scheduled flow and a data buffer for the at least one scheduled flow is not empty.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring condition is satisfied through an outstanding grant of radio resources and data transmission has been sent using the outstanding grant of radio resources.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor monitors the at least one grant channel if there is at least one other control channel to monitor.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor continuously monitors the at least one grant channel while the monitoring condition is satisfied.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor monitors the at least one grant channel during designated time intervals if the monitoring condition is satisfied and discontinuous reception (DRX) is enabled.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor stops monitoring the at least one grant channel when there is no outstanding grant of radio resources.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor stops monitoring the at least one grant channel if there is no outstanding grant of radio resources and if there is no data to send.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor stops monitoring the at least one grant channel if there are no scheduled flows or if there is no data to send for scheduled flows.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor monitors the at least one grant channel of a serving cell if the monitoring condition is satisfied and there is no outstanding grant of radio resources.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor monitors the at least one grant channel of at least one cell in a serving radio link set (RLS) if the monitoring condition is satisfied.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one grant channel comprises an E-DCH Absolute Grant Channel (E-AGCH) and an E-DCH Relative Grant Channel (E-RGCH).

13. A method comprising: determining, by a user equipment, whether a monitoring condition is satisfied, wherein the monitoring condition is determined to be satisfied according to an occurrence of one or more criteria, wherein the one or more criteria includes existence of an outstanding grant of radio resources available in a grant channel for an uplink data transmission based on an absolute grant monitoring at least one grant channel for grants of radio resources if the monitoring condition is satisfied; and stopping monitoring all grant channels if the monitoring condition is not satisfied.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the monitoring the at least one grant channel comprises monitoring the at least one grant channel if there is at least one scheduled flow and a data buffer for the at least one scheduled flow is not empty.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the monitoring condition is satisfied through an outstanding grant of radio resources and data transmission has been sent using the outstanding grant of radio resources.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the monitoring the at least one grant channel comprises monitoring the at least one grant channel if there is at least one other control channel to monitor.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the monitoring the at least one grant channel comprises monitoring the at least one grant channel during designated time intervals if the monitoring condition is satisfied and discontinuous reception (DRX) is enabled.

18. A user equipment apparatus comprising: means for determining whether a monitoring condition is satisfied, wherein the monitoring condition is determined to be satisfied according to an occurrence of one or more criteria, wherein the one or more criteria includes existence of an outstanding grant of radio resources available in a grant channel for an uplink data transmission based on an absolute grant; means for monitoring at least one grant channel for grants of radio resources if the monitoring condition is satisfied; and means for stopping monitoring all grant channels if the monitoring condition is not satisfied.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the means for monitoring the at least one grant channel comprises means for monitoring the at least one grant channel if there is at least one scheduled flow and a data buffer for the at least one scheduled flow is not empty.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the monitoring condition is satisfied through an outstanding grant of radio resources and data transmission has been sent using the outstanding grant of radio resources.

21. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the means for monitoring the at least one grant channel comprises means for monitoring the at least one grant channel if there is at least one other control channel to monitor.

22. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the means for monitoring the at least one grant channel comprises means for monitoring the at least one grant channel during designated time intervals if the monitoring condition is satisfied and discontinuous reception (DRX) is enabled.

23. A computer program product, comprising: non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising: code for causing a computer at a user equipment to determine whether a monitoring condition is determined to be satisfied according to an occurrence of one or more criteria, wherein the one or more criteria includes existence of an outstanding grant of radio resources available in a grant channel for an uplink data transmission based on an absolute grant; code for causing the computer to monitor at least one grant channel for grants of radio resources if the monitoring condition is satisfied; and code for causing the computer to stop monitoring all grant channels if the monitoring condition is not satisfied.

24. The computer program product of claim 23 , the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising: code for causing the computer to monitor the at least one grant channel if there is at least one scheduled flow and a data buffer for the at least one scheduled flow is not empty.

25. The computer program product of claim 23 , the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising: code for causing the computer to monitor the at least one grant channel when the monitoring condition is satisfied through an outstanding grant of radio resources and data transmission has been sent using the outstanding grant of radio resources.

26. The computer program product of claim 23 , the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising: code for causing the computer to monitor the at least one grant channel if there is at least one other control channel to monitor.

27. The computer program product of claim 23 , the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising: code for causing the computer to monitor the at least one grant channel during designated time intervals if the monitoring condition is satisfied and discontinuous reception (DRX) is enabled.

28. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor to determine that discontinuous reception (DRX) is enabled and, when DRX is enabled, to perform downlink reception of an E-DCH Absolute Grant Channel (E-AGCH) and an E-DCH Relative Grant Channel (E-RGCH) if at least one Medium Access Control (MAC)-d flow is configured with a scheduled transmission and total E-DCH buffer status (TEBS) is greater than zero and during reception subframes indicated by a high speed shared control channel (HS-SCCH) reception pattern; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 , wherein when DRX is enabled the at least one processor performs downlink reception of the E-AGCH and E-RGCH if there is an outstanding grant of radio resources and data transmission has been sent using the outstanding grant of radio resources.

30. The apparatus of claim 28 , wherein when DRX is enabled the at least one processor performs downlink reception of the E-AGCH and E-RGCH when there is at least one other control channel to monitor.

31. A method comprising: determining that discontinuous reception (DRX) is enabled; and performing downlink reception of an E-DCH Absolute Grant Channel (E-AGCH) and an E-DCH Relative Grant Channel (E-RGCH), when DRX is enabled, if at least one Medium Access Control (MAC)-d flow is configured with a scheduled transmission and total E-DCH buffer status (TEBS) is greater than zero during reception subframes indicated by a high speed shared common channel (HS-SCCH) reception pattern.

32. The method of claim 31 , wherein the performing downlink reception comprises performing downlink reception of the E-AGCH and E-RGCH if there is an outstanding grant of radio resources and data transmission has been sent using the outstanding grant of radio resources.

33. The method of claim 31 , wherein the performing downlink reception comprises performing downlink reception of the E-AGCH and E-RGCH when there is at least one other control channel to monitor.

34. A computer program product, comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising code for: determining that discontinuous reception (DRX) is enabled; and performing downlink reception of an E-DCH Absolute Grant Channel (E-AGCH) and an E-DCH Relative Grant Channel (E-RGCH), when DRX is enabled, if at least one Medium Access Control (MAC)-d flow is configured with a scheduled transmission and total E-DCH buffer status (TEBS) is greater than zero during reception subframes indicated by a high speed shared common channel (HS-SCCH) reception pattern.

35. An apparatus, comprising: means for determining that discontinuous reception (DRX) is enabled; and means for performing downlink reception of an E-DCH Absolute Grant Channel (E-AGCH) and an E-DCH Relative Grant Channel (E-RGCH), when DRX is enabled, if at least one Medium Access Control (MAC)-d flow is configured with a scheduled transmission and total E-DCH buffer status (TEBS) is greater than zero during reception subframes indicated by a high speed shared common channel (HS-SCCH) reception pattern.

36. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more criteria further comprises sending of scheduling information indicating there is data to send.

37. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more criteria further comprises an expectation of a grant of radio resources.